It’s No Joke – Cartoon Network May Finally Get its Act Together

It looks like Cartoon Network will finally return to something resembling the much missed “Toonami” block of programming. Frankly, it’s about time because the popular “Toonami” went off the air about two years ago without a suitable replacement. I can only envision that someone at the CN corporate office finally asked if there were any properties that they could leverage into a cartoon and someone answering with a “Well, you know we own DC Comics, Warner Brothers movie studios and all of the Hanna-Barbara library, right?”

So this coming year, animation fans of Cartoon Network can look forward to:

• A new Ben 10 series (No Announced Title)
• ThunderCats (which fans of the old 80’s series should probably take a “wait & see” attitude towards because it’s going to be “re-imagined.”)
• Green Lantern – based on the summer movie.
• How To Train Your Dragon – based on the book, not the movie.
• Batman: The Brave and the Bold – which was thought to be cancelled but will return.
• Young Justice
• Scooby Doo, Mystery Inc.
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars
• Generator Rex
• Ben 10: Ultimate Alien – Dwayne McDuffie’s guiding hand will be missed, but not for quite a few episodes.

Also, in 2012 there will be something called DC Nation.  According to Diane Nelson, President of DC Entertainment, “DC Nation on Cartoon Network will be the first-ever dedicated broadcast destination to showcase the depth and breadth of the DC Universe.” Yup, I have no idea what that really means. It could turn out to be a half hour commercial for DC properties or it could be a “clip” show from past TV shows featuring DC characters. We’ll just have to wait and see what we really end up with.

Finally, for the fifteenth thousand time, there will be another attempt to re-imagine the Loony Tunes characters in the modern world which will premiere in May. With the exception of a couple of World War II cartoons, CN would be better served to just air the original cartoons that Warner Brothers still has the rights to, than to constantly attempt to imitate the original. Just my opinion.